Well, we made it!

Our “last day of school” was just over a week ago!  Yet, even as we prepared to celebrate that milestone with homemade certificates and unconventional pomp and circumstance (aka running through the sprinkler in the backyard), I found myself hesitating to use the words “last day.”  One of the things we’ve discovered this year is that learning can happen every day, anytime, anywhere.  So instead of imposing an “end” to the learning and sending the signal that summertime means “time off from learning stuff,” we decided to change our language.

We congratulated the boys for “completing 3rd Grade and Kindergarten” (because, yes, technically we finished all that curriculum.)  And then we told them it was just the beginning!  We took Memorial Day weekend off for a well-deserved break.  But, by the end of the weekend, we had transformed our school room to its summer version with baskets full of summer reading books, journals and activity books.  

They were so excited by their new books that by the time of this writing (one week later), my oldest has just finished his first chapter book and my youngest has read five little books for his “100 Days of Summer Reading” as part of our curriculum.  And we’re planning lots of hands-on activities this summer, too.  And they are loving it.  And we are loving watching their curiosity continue to evolve.

But, it has taken us a while to get here.  Our whole first year of trying this new way of schooling has helped us get to this point.  And, while we’re still figuring it all out, I thought it might be helpful to share some of the things that we’ve uncovered along the way that have helped us come this far.

1 – Homeschool is not “regular school at home.”

This has been the biggest “a ha” moment for us this year because we began with the opposite mindset.  We had books and pencils, tables and white boards, and a schedule with class periods and recess built in.  We were trying to recreate the same feeling as “regular school” in our dining room and kitchen.  And while we do need structure and a schedule because we are two working-from-home parents and we have to get to our office hours, we’ve learned that there are so many other ways to approach learning.  Cuddling with my little one on the couch as he learned how to read, reviewing Latin vocabulary on a walk around the neighborhood, my husband singing multiplication songs and creating card games to teach math subjects…we’ve found that getting out of our “desks” and embracing our space and time is the key to cultivating an atmosphere where they are excited to learn.

2 – Figuring out #1 is way easier said than done.

Okay, maybe this is actually the biggest “a ha” moment, especially since my husband and I both attended traditional schools and have never known anything different.  It’s amazing how deep those habits and routines can run.  Even though we’ve been out of school for almost 20 years, the structure and system of traditional schooling is deeply ingrained in us.  Everything from the start and end times of a school day, to how long a school day should last, or what grades and tests are for, and what subjects are for what age…whew, old habits die hard.  We’ve had to work through our own skepticism and resistance to the idea that things can be done differently.  And that sometimes different is actually better.

3 – We don’t have to “become the teacher” – we already are

This was one of our biggest fears at the beginning.  Will they listen to us?  Will they do as well with us as with a teacher who is not also their parent?  I think where we struggled at first was by trying to “wear our teacher hat” and establish an almost different persona for learning time.  Well, they can read right through (or rebel right against) that, for sure.  Slowly we realized that we’ve been their teachers since they were born.  We taught them to talk, to walk, to feed themselves, to ride a bike, to cross the street.  This really is not that different. And when we approach school with the same empathy, care and positive reinforcement, it works.  “You can do it.”  “I’m here to help you.” “You’re getting it!”  “You did it!” – same techniques, different subjects.

4 – There’s so much that is better together

This goes right back to #1 again.  We naturally assumed that 3rd Grade subjects were only for the 3rd Grader and Kindergarten subjects were only for the Kindergartener, and that they should be kept in separate rooms all day.  (See, once again we were thinking in “regular school” terms).  But, as the year went by we found so much goodness in putting them together. My last blog post, Tootie’s Table has more on this.  

It started naturally – one would be interested in what the other was doing and want to be involved.  So, we thought, “Why not do the Fine Art study with both of them even though it’s in the Kindergarten book.” (I mean, to be honest, I did not know a lot of those paintings…so it was on my grade level, too!)  And, “Why not let our Kindergartener sit in on 3rd Grade Mammals Study and Geography? He may not be able to write the answers to the discussion questions, but we could do it orally.  Oh, and while we’re at it, why not have everyone do it orally and then we can create an opportunity for family conversation.”  See where I’m going here.  It’s really quite magical.

5 – The curriculum is our “jumping off point”

Once again, it’s all tied together.  Because my husband and I were schooled traditionally (and we also love a checklist), it is so easy to feel bound to the curriculum book, and obligated to check every single box, do every worksheet, and not deviate from the instructions.  But, we had to keep reminding ourselves that the books we were using were written for a classroom teacher.  When you have to teach lots of kids, and report how they are doing to their parents – therein lies the requirements for lots of quizzes, written work, tests, etc.  But, when you sit side by side with one student, you know exactly when they’ve mastered something and when they have more work to do. So sometimes, we spent longer or shorter time than “the book said.”  Sometimes, we replaced their exercises with our own versions, or doubled up the speed and got ahead of the schedule in the book.  And because it’s so customizable, the kids feel even more engaged and inspired by the work, thereby continuing to find that love of learning we seek to instill in them.

I could go on and on, and I know we have a lot more to learn as we continue this journey – but I thought this Top 5 was a good place to start.  And, I hope it’s a helpful glimpse inside this lifestyle and school choice for anyone out there who is considering it.  

We had a lot of misconceptions as outsiders, and even as insiders.  And, we’re still getting the hang of it and getting into our rhythm.  But, the more we learn the more we love it and feel like there is so much goodness in doing things a little differently.

Journey On.